Big Stone County, Minnesota Genealogy

United States

Minnesota

Big Stone County

Guide to Big Stone County, Minnesota ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Minnesota Online Genealogy Records

Big Stone County, Minnesota
Map
Location in the state of Minnesota
Location of Minnesota in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	February 20, 1862
County Seat	Ortonville
Courthouse
Address	Big Stone County Courthouse 20 SE 2nd Street Ortonville, MN 56278-1544 Phone: 320-839-2308 Big Stone County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for the Big Stone Lake. The County is located in the west central area of the state.

Big Stone County, Minnesota Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1881	1881	1881	1885	1881	1881	1836
Statewide registration started for births in 1900 and deaths in 1908. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Recorder has birth, marriage and land records from 1881, divorce and court records from 1885.
Court Judge has probate records.

History

Parent County

• 1862--Big Stone County was created 20 February 1862 from Pierce County; eliminated 20 Feb 1862. County seat: Ortonville

Record Loss

1885 Courthouse was destroyed by fire.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

• Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill. Online at: Family History Circle.
• When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle. Online at: Tennessee Genealogy Blog.
• Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Barry Beardsley Clinton	Correll Graceville Johnson	Odessa Ortonville
Unincorporated communities
Artichoke Big Stone Colony	Bonanza Grove Foster	Lagoona Beach Yankeetown
Townships
Akron Almond Artichoke Big Stone Browns Valley	Foster Graceville Malta Moonshine Odessa	Ortonville Otrey Prior Toqua

Neighboring Counties

• Grant County, South Dakota
• Lac Qui Parle
• Roberts County, South Dakota
• Stevens
• Swift
• Traverse

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
MNGenWeb Archives	WorldCat	Billion Graves
Tombstone Project		FamilySearch Places
MNInterment
Billion Graves
See Minnesota Cemeteries for more information.

Census

State Census

• 1865 - Minnesota State Census, 1865 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1885 - Minnesota State Census, 1885 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1905 - Minnesota State Census, 1905 at FamilySearch — index and images

Church

Most church records are held by individual churches. For contact information, check a phone directory, such as SearchBug or Dex Knows. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information about these major repositories, see Minnesota Church Records.

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Emigration and Immigration

• 1912 - 1956 - Minnesota Passenger and Crew Lists, 1912-1956 at FamilySearch — index and images

Land

The county register of deeds keeps land records once the land was transferred to private ownership. Abstracts and indexes for these records are generally available at the county courthouse.

Land records for Minnesota are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

MINNESOTA, Big Stone – LAND AND PROPERTY

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Big Stone County, Minnesota Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Minnesota Local Histories.

Maps

• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

1874 Map of Big Stone, Grant, Stevens, and Traverse counties

Military

World War II

• 1940-1945 - Minnesota, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1947 at FamilySearch — index and images

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1872-1962 - Minnesota Naturalization Records and Indexes, 1872-1962 at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

• The Ortonville Independent (May 1920-Current; Weekly)
• The Northern Star (Jan 1966-Current; Weekly)
• The Ortonville Journal (Jan 1927-Sep 1927; Weekly)
• The Ortonville Star (Jan 1927-Sep 1927; Weekly)
• Ortonville Journal Star (Oct 1927-Apr 1930; Weekly)
• The Journal-Star (Sep 1926-Jan 1927; Weekly)
• The Ortonville Journal (Jan 1913-Sep 1926; Weekly)
• Ortonville Herald Star (Jan 1888-Dec 1912; Weekly)
• Big Stone County Journal (1892 [?]-Dec 1912; Weekly)
• The Beardsley News (Apr 1908-Jun 1959; Weekly)
• The Odessa Tribune (Mar 1898-After Jan 1902 [?]; Weekly)
• The Phenix (1894-Nov 1912; Weekly)
• Graceville Transcript (Aug 1890-1894; Weekly)
• Graceville Transcript and Democrat (Jul 1889-Aug 1890; Weekly)
• The Graceville Democrat (May 1888-Jul 1889; Weekly)
• The Ortonville Headlight (1884-After Mar 1887 [?]; Weekly)
• The People's Vindicator (1884-Dec1884; Weekly)
• Graceville Transcript (Oct 1883-Jul 1889; Weekly)
• Big Stone County Herald (Aug 1879-Dec 1887; Weekly)
• Ortonville North Star (Jun 1878-Dec1887; Weekly)
• The Odessa Times (1940 [?]-Sep 1941; Weekly)
• Graceville Enterprise (1894-Apr 1966; Weekly)
• The Clinton Advocate (1894 [?]-Apr 1966; Weekly)
• The Ortonville Star (1920 [?]-Sep 1926; Weekly)
• The Beardsley News (1896 [?]-Sep 1907; Weekly)
• The Clinton Advocate (Aug 1892-Jul 1895; Weekly)

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Big Stone County, Minnesota Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Big Stone County, Minnesota Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Obituaries

• 1865-2006 - Minnesota Obituaries 1865-2006 at FamilySearch— index and images

Probate

Probate records may include, wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. They may include the decedent’s date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, etc. See Minnesota Probate Records for additional information.

Online Probate Records

• 1801 - 1999 Minnesota Wills and Probate Records 1801-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Taxation

Minnesota tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information, see the wiki page Minnesota Taxation.

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents.

A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Minnesota State Registrar of Vital Records, the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred], order electronically online ($) or download an application for Minnesota Birth Certificate and Death Certificates Applications to mail.

See also Minnesota Vital Records or How to order Minnesota Vital Records. For information about restrictions and costs for certificates, see the CDC Where to Write for Vital Records site.

Birth

• 1900-1934 Minnesota, Birth Index, 1900-1934 at MyHeritage($) — index

Marriage

• 1850-2019 WEB: Minnesota, Marriages from the Minnesota Official Marriage System, 1850-2019 at Ancestry($) — index
• 1860 - 1949 Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1976-2003 Minnesota, Marriages, 1976-2003 at MyHeritage($) — index

Death

• 1850-2001 - Minnesota, County Deaths, 1850-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1887-2001 - Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1904-2001 Minnesota, Death Index, 1904-2001 at MyHeritage($) — index

Societies and Libraries

• Big Stone County Historical Society and Museum
  985 US Highway 12
  Ortonville, MN 56278
  Phone: 320-839-3359
  Website
  Facebook
• Ortonville Public Library
  412 NW 2nd Stret
  Ortonville, MN 56278
  Phone: 320-8390-2494
• Graceville Public Library
  415 Studdart Avenure
  PO Box 457
  Graceville, MN 56240
  Phone: 320-748-7332

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

• FamilySearch Catalog
• Big Stone County GenWeb
• Cyndi's List: Big Stone County

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.